Turner`s Cbs Bid Hurt

July 11, 1985

Mark Fowler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, told a congressional hearing that the agency won`t rule until September or early fall on Ted Turner`s application for the broadcast licenses of CBS Inc. The decision is a blow to Turner, who sought expedited action on his application so that his hostile tender offer for CBS could compete simultaneously with CBS` repurchase offer for 21 percent of its shares. The CBS repurchase offer is to expire July 31. Fowler declined to say whether the commission might grant another Turner request: that a trustee be appointed to hold any CBS shares tendered to Turner pending FCC action on his application. A federal court in Atlanta has scheduled a hearing for July 24 on Turner`s motion to block the CBS offer, which Turner has said could doom his takeover bid.